An intra-GOP feud played out in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. The dispute is between Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist insists – and many Republican politicans have agreed – that policy makers sign a “no new taxes” pledge. But Norquist’s definition of taxes is broad. For instance, […]
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Jim Brunner at The Seattle Times spoke with Ron Sims Tuesday following the news that Sims is leaving his position with the Obama Administration. Sims, the former King County executive, left the door open ever so slightly for a possible 2013 Seattle mayoral run. Sims joins a growing list of possible challengers to incumbent Mayor […]
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Surveys taken by Public Policy Polling are slightly contrarian: For months they gave President Obama approval marks slightly lower than other polls. Now, they record a “slight uptick” while competitors show Obama losing his post-Osama “bounce.” The latest PPP survey shows that Americans, by a 51 percent-to 45 percent margin, have a favorable view of […]
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What’s to blame for “Weinergate?” It’s not low morals, say respondents to a survey by the Pew Research Center. A 57% majority say elected officials just get caught more often because they are under greater scrutiny. About two-in-ten (19%), on the other hand, say elected officials have lower moral standards than ordinary Americans, according to […]
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Reagan Dunn is a Republican by name, by his blood lines, through service in the Bush administration and on the officially non-partisan King County Council: He is now making his first bid for statewide office. Dunn announced Tuesday that he is running for state Attorney General. He is seeking to succeed fellow Republican Rob McKenna, […]
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A Republican state legislator in Minnesota, answering a constituent’s letter, has described unions as communists and likened organized labor to Hitler and Fidel Castro. The constituent, Robin Seifert, wrote to State Rep. Tom Hackbarth asking that he support a proposal by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to increase taxes on the top 2 percent of income […]
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Ron Sims, the former longtime King County executive who left his post in 2009 for a job in the Obama Administration, announced Tuesday that he is retiring and returning to the Northwest. Sims posted this his Facebook page. “My message to HUD employees ’Today is one of the more difficult days of my time with you. I […]
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Rep. Michele Bachmann officially entered the Republican presidential race on Monday night by promising to eliminate a major federal agency established under Republican President Richard Nixon. Bachmann told the New Hampshire GOP candidates’ debate that she would eradicate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, calling it “a job killing federal agency.” The EPA came into being […]
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With the Great Recession refusing to go away, and thousands looking for work, the budget axe hangs over or is falling on programs designed to equip job-seekers with new skills. Washington’s community colleges suffered cuts in the recently passed state budget. Now, the federal Workforce Investment Act faces deeper cuts to a program that has […]
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the National Labor Relations Board should lose its funding because of it filed a complaint against Boeing, saying the company illegally put its second 787 Dreamliner final assembly line in South Carolina in retaliation for past strikes in the Puget Sound area. “I think it’s fundamentally the wrong direction,” Gingrich […]
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